A late night craving..

So the hubs works late at night, and to keep myself awake I watch tv. Well, at 1 in the morning, my favorite watch is Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, and oh my gosh! I literally drool and wish I could drive cross country in the middle of the night to eat some of the amazing things he finds on this show! Give it a watch, it's amazing (if you're a greasy/meat/cheese/homestyle lover like I am at least), and it will make your mouth water! To be honest, it's not even always unhealthy stuff, I just saw a salad made, so, really, give it a watch :)

A very late birth announcement :)

I realize now, I never posted a birth announcement of our little doll. Here's a few pics of our first days together.

Loretta Ann Murray

{we lovingly call her etta}

7lbs. 7 oz.

21 1/2 in.

Born August 25th, 2011

{yes, 11 days late :)}

broken promise

I know I said I was going to keep up with blogging, and I didn't :( You can blame school (full-time student over here), or the babe who didn't want to sleep more than an hour or two in the evening, from months 4-6, or my love for my husband (I just can't get enough of him), or the fact that my mother has become a photographer (I used to borrow her camera, but it's always in use now), but either way, it will get better! Also, I promised myself that this was never going to be much of a "personal" blog, sorry to disappoint if you were hoping to see every little update of my cute little family (I use facebook if you're family/friend), but I started this blog as just an easy way to post my recipes (websites are way too hard for me). Because she is every minute of every day for me, of course I'll share things here and there, but I am going to try and keep it to my original intent of recipes, trips, recommendations, and so forth. Most of my recipes are on other sites so I have a majority of viewers from unknown sources, which I love that I can share my love of cooking with so many people from so many places, but that's my reason for keeping the personal details to a minimum! Enjoy the blog.. keep your fingers crossed for me that my next quarter of school goes easier than this past one! I'm on spring break right now, and oh it is so so sweet :)

{5 months}

{6 months}

isn't she sooooo cute!!??

This little one is crawling already! And I swear she's going to start walking soon! She pulls herself up on everything (causing her parents to be ever so nervous that she's going to take a tumble) but we are so proud! She is a smart little thing, and works for what she wants. Before we know it, she's going to be driving and traveling the world at the age of 2. I would tell her to slow down, but we love it! This girl knows what she wants ;)

Oh hey blog, how've you been?

So I've been away for awhile if it hasn't been obvious and this is why...

{baby etta at 3 months}

My little one hit 4 months on christmas and we just love her so darn much!! Isn't she cute?! We love life, even though it's a little too busy to include a blog. I have made a few new years resolutions and one of them is to spend more time in the kitchen and less time at fast food; so you should see a few more recipes up here! More updates will come shortly.. for now, happy new years!!!

Makin Banana Pancakes :)

I love pancakes, it's a bit of a weakness actually. Generally in the morning though, I have a little more willpower than the rest of the day so I eat somewhat healthy, and if I have time to make breakfast, I try and stay away from gluten (since my poor tummy doesn't do well with it). So, long story short, I found red mill's gluten free mix, tried it, and loved it! So here you go..

Gluten free Banana Pancakes



How I make these wonderful things...
Follow the instructions for the pancakes on the package. Have ready (for one batch, which serves about 4, so 8 large pancakes)

2 bananas sliced in 1/4 inch ish rounds,
brown sugar, and
chopped pecans or walnuts if you are the nut type :) and also,
you can add ground flax meal to the top (not necessary, but we didn't have nuts, and I love flax)

On a skillet, griddle, pan, whatever you use to do pancakes normally, over medium heat, butter your pan and pour on 4 good size pancakes. Let cook for about a minute and then work quickly. Place between 5-7 banana slices on the top of each pancake and push in just slightly. I usually put one in the middle and do a circle around that, just for aesthetics. Sprinkle brown sugar with your fingers or spoon on top of the pancakes. Sprinkle, nuts, and or flax as well. Once you feel the bottom portion of the pancake is done.. flip! You will want to make sure your pan isn't too hot, burnt pancakes are just the worst. The sugar side can burn easily if it's too hot. Cook for a minute or two until you feel the pancake portion is done, not doughy, and that's it! If you can make pancakes, you can make banana pancakes. But if you tend to suck at pancakes, I don't really know what to tell you :) Good luck!
Also, you can use any pancake mix or recipe. I have a from scratch recipe I used to use before the gluten issues came up, and I can't find it, so I couldn't put it in the post.. but I'll find it one of these days.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar, drizzle with syrup, top with butter, go nuts! Add more fruit, whipped cream, however you love your pancakes.



Happy weekend breakfast everyone!


Here's the mix, in case you want to look into it. Red mill is an amazing brand for gluten free and just healthy products in general by the way. Most health food stores carry their line of products (stores like safeway only have a few things). We use red mill's pancake mix, quinoa, quinoa flour, oat flour, flax meal, etc. Locally, I know raley's has a large selection of their products, actually all of them.
Again, happy weekend!
with love,
kristin ann :)

hello old friend

yes, I'm an awful blogger. what do you want me say? I'm sorry :)

Life has been a little busy. I have just about enough time to throw up an update on facebook here and there and just hope that fam and friends see me there, but... I know not all my fam and friends do the facebook thing. Also, I feel terrible that I don't take pretty pictures of my food to share anymore. I know I've gained most of my followers through my recipes, but I'm making a promise, one day soon, things will change. Morning sickness is no longer a problem. School, still stressful, but I just need to get into my schedule and things will settle down.

News...

It's a girl!! We've known for about a month now, and I'm just now getting around to posting. I put up our adorable little ultrasounds on facebook and thought I would do the same here. Normally I'm not a very personal person on this here blog, at least the day to day.. I like to share the big news and the happy stuff.. but babies are the only things on my mind these days! If it's not babies, it's school, so that my babies can have a mom with an education and hopefully some awesome nursing skills later on in life (also a nurses salary wouldn't hurt). And then when I'm not trying to organize all our baby clothes we're trying to figure out where to live, which is just another stress ball we're trying to climb over. But, all is good :)

Here's a few of the pictures of our sweet little pea.
(from our 16 week ultrasound.. I'm at 21 weeks now!!)

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend !

with love,

kristin ann :)

Happy Valentine's Day =)

{not my belly but isn't it soooo cute! I found it Valentine's day appropriate}

{there's our little peanut!! we think "he" looks like charlie brown ;)}

Sorry I've been away from the blog everybody!! But I'm back!!
Yes it is true.. I'm expecting! We're so excited for this little bundle of joy you have no idea. The morning/all day sickness is starting to fade, so I just might be stepping into the kitchen again soon to make some things a little more challenging than toast :) Also, now that I don't have this little secret always on my mind, I don't feel like I'm telling a fib when I give updates.

2011 updates for the Martin and Kristin Murray family:

We are both in the middle of winter quarter at Cal State East Bay and having a heck of a time getting all our homework done! If only we didn't like to spend so much time together ;)
We are currently 14 weeks along (woooowhoooo!) and anxiously awaiting this little one that will be arriving somewhere around August 14th.

I am doing a lot better this week, even though I still carry around saltines with me at all times.
Next quarter I will finish up my prereqs for nursing and I will be school free for the first year of our little one's life (I apply in the fall, if I get accepted I will be going the following fall... which is when Martin should just be graduating! We're planners over here in the Murray house)
We will most likely find out the sex of the babe.. not positive yet.
And we are having a fabulous year! We hit 1 year of being married in January and it's been a wonderful wonderful married life. I couldn't ask for more in a husband and from what I hear, he's pretty happy too :)

Thanks for hanging in there with me everybody.. this is gonna be a fun year!

with love,

Kristin Ann :)

{p.s. I am so madly in love with my husband Martin Murray. I could not be happier with where I am in life and where we are in our relationship!}